As a Democrat I certainly love that my party has included technology in the public sector as part of the solution to the ills that face our civics. It is vital that we leverage technology to make government more effective and more efficient. Also vital, is the use of technology to engage and embrace our citizens as an integral part of the policy conversations that will build the next American Century. But, as a citizen that cares about statecraft, I need to highlight that we must strip political advantage from technology in the public sector. It is simply too important for us to make political advantage from technology deployment.

We are not without models where this has worked. Building programs in most states and local governments have turned to building commissions that used to be based upon bi-partison makeup, citizen and industry participation, radical openness and an understanding that the infrastructure we need is too important to go through the booms and busts of political transitions. When we deal with items this way we get sustained building programs that span administrations and build infrastructure that both public transportation and commerce can share. We must do the same with technology.